No AOC mercy for drug lies

ENACTING a landmark rule change that could imprison athletes who lie about doping for up to five years, Australia's Olympic Committee is urging domestic sporting codes to follow suit.

The AOC's move - believed to be a world first, and a development International Olympic Committee head Jacques Rogge has been alerted to - will make it mandatory for all future Australian Olympians to sign a statutory declaration about doping.

AOC president John Coates circulated final details of the Ethical Behaviour By Law amendment to his executive on the same day the Australian Crime Commission tabled its findings about widespread banned drug abuse in elite sport. Within 24 hours Coates reported unanimous approval.

The Olympic boss said the reform could be a template for organisations like the AFL and NRL which have never demanded athletes declare their doping histories - with legal implications - as a condition of competing.

"I would encourage them to look at what we've done, even down at a club level," Coates told Fairfax Media, citing the example of British cycling team Sky, which has lost several coaches and riders since enforcing mandatory doping declarations late last year. "But I'm not lecturing them, and I'm not saying we're immune."

Acknowledging the likelihood that Australian Olympians have lied about their doping histories as recently as last year before the 2012 London Games, Coates - also Court of Arbitration for Sport president and an IOC member - believes statutory declarations will reduce the chance of history repeating.

Advertisement

"In the past they might have said that [they didn't dope], but there haven't been any consequences. And so I do worry, in respect of athletes and team officials, that we didn't always get truthful answers," he said.

"Now we'll be able to get into their heads the fact that you might have been able to cover this up before but you won't be able to now.

"This will either force athletes to confess, or they won't sign it and they will drop out of wanting to be selected."

The AOC's draft statutory declaration informs athletes they are "strongly encouraged to seek independent legal advice" before signing. The document outlines that making a false declaration about their doping history is a "criminal offence and may attract significant penalties". It cites penalties of up to two years imprisonment if the offence is dealt with summarily, and up to five years imprisonment if the offence is dealt with on indictment.

Under the new AOC rules an athlete, team official, AOC executive or an employee found to have made a false declaration about doping would face civil and criminal consequences. If they refuse to sign they will be ineligible for the Australian Olympic team or AOC employment.

Coates said he would be "absolutely gobsmacked" if an AOC executive suffered the same fate as Cycling Australia vice-president and ex-pro Stephen Hodge, who stood down after admitting to doping last year. But Coates conceded: "You never know."

The demand is considerably more serious for athletes than the recommendation made in the investigation into Australian cycling tabled by former Supreme Court Judge James Wood last month. Wood recommended that the signing of simple declarations be a prerequisite of selection.

The AOC board first discussed the reform at a meeting last November - weeks after the US Anti-Doping Agency stripped Lance Armstrong of his titles and banned him from sanctioned sport for life. One rule Coates had championed, but could not proceed with, was banning officials with past doping offences from Australia's Olympic team for life.

Coates believes Matt White, Australian men's road cycling coach at the London Games, who admitted to doping when he was a teammate of Armstrong's, should never be eligible for Olympic duties again. Lawyers advised, however, that the AOC could not enforce that rule and remain compliant to the World Anti-Doping Authority code because it could be seen as "double punishment".